End of Week One

At the end of the first week I can happily say my internship has been going well. Over the course of the week, I met many dedicated people on the forefront of food recovery who are passionate about serving and helping others. Lillian, a longtime intern from Occidental, trained me as a pick leader so that I could lead my own picks and work independently in the field. She took me out Thursday to pick grapefruit where we collected over 1,000 pounds of fruit in a span of three hours. I polished my skills on how to greet volunteers, ensure safety measures for a pick, and encourage volunteers to spread our mission to family, friends, and neighbors. We then relocated to a local Starbucks to begin the process of reaching out to organizations in our targeted area, and to generate publicity in local newspapers. I quickly realized how difficult it will be to expand our presence into the East San Gabriel Valley. There are no contacts that I can use as reference points, and few organizations that we have already partnered with. Although this will be challenging, my hope is to slowly partner with organizations and people to build a strong foundation for our presence and grow from there.